Damn them!

Crazy stuff. One angle made it look like the first canister shot being thrown back into the line of police was what provoked he flare up, but that still doesn't make it right to fire directly at a person, regardless of how close.

It's hard to determine if that hit to the face was an accident or not, but again, it doesn't really matter.

Amazing footage... the world's gov leaders are freaking out after seeing what protesting can lead to - only with internet and video uploading capabilities these days, kind of tough to squash it so silently and shut everyone up.

Have you considered putting this on youtube? Everyone should see it ! The wider reach, the better. I'd like to think if this went viral, someone's GOT to speak up about it.

yah, it's definitely going on youtube

What happened to the police protecting the law abiding citizens? They looked like they were peacefully protesting, I didn't see any looting, or illegal activity, just chanting.

Trigger-happy, chaos-loving, good-for-nothing cop.

very very sad. I'm becoming more and more aware of why other countries hate us.

Our own government would easily condem these same actions abroad. We would hear about the "injustice for peaceful assembly... blah, blah, blah..."

Sick.

I was watching the regular video showing Occupy Oakland with my 11 yr old son, with the tear gas, riot police, and Olsen getting critically injured. My son thought I was looking at footage from Egypt or some other country. Sadly, I had to inform him that this was right here in the USA.

IF you look at 1:19 you can see Scott Olsen falling to the ground from that flash bang explosion. For him to suffer that kind of injury to his face it had to have been a head on collision.

basically some anonymous cop was eyeballing Scott and was probably pissed off at Scott's defiance so the cop decided to shoot a canister directly at his head. That cop, that pulled that trigger, will have a hard time living with himself for the rest of his life.

What's crazy is that when people went up to him to see if he was alright, they shoot another round into the crowd, that's unacceptable and the officer/s who committed should be prosecuted and sent to jail.

Every American needs to see this and we all need to act upon these treasonous attacks on our freedom in our homeland.

More telephoto lens cameras need to get out there and focus on these sociopath's badge numbers (when the cowards don't hide them, that is).

We need the names of these treasonous cowards.

I think at this point, the funds coming in from donations should partially go towards high-powered lenses for cameras to better "capture" these enemies of the American people. We need a media task force that will expose these treasonous acts and the names of the enemy combatants that perpetrate said treasonous acts against the American public.

Time to bring these terrorists to justice.

thiis is what the 1 percent does to us, all to protect their dirty money that they have stollen from us.....

Really good job on the video! Hear Occupy Green Bay, Marchers Speak out on Day's 1st March and see the photos and read the story at ... greenbayconfidential.blogspot.com/. My Opinion; If Americans standing up for their rights are hooligans, then those who economically oppress and those who insult them are Fascists. The wars (the real one we are now actually fighting, and the corporate oil one for what ever fake reason given that day) have created thousands of Combat experienced, trained fighters. They were offered up as cannon fodder for corporate profits. They could see the lies of the Bush admin for themselves ... because they were there, not at home living off of and profiting from the war. They know what a "stack" is. They know the latest TA 50. They know how to read and write an Op ord. And as is the way, there will be a small elite group (you know, the dirty hippie Green Beret types that actually did the job just after 911 when all else were cowering in fear from entering the graveyard of all of histories great armies, and who were stopped in their tracks from getting OBL for political reasons) who will quietly plan, rehearse, and prepare. If democracy only represents the rich, powerful, and those too big to fail or jail, then words are not the answer. Cold Steel and Hot lead are. History, as well as our founders teach us this. Just as so many of our greatest American Presidents (most of whom were assassinated) warned us of, a monetary system controlled by a very few with personal and private interests will destroy the country. "I will defend the constitution against All enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC" is the oath we took. As we are sacrificed for the new kings, we will stand in revolt and refuse to quietly go into the night. We will fight them at the polls, we will fight them at banks, we will fight them openly ... and sometime not so openly. At a time and place of our choosing. We are the 99%. We do not forget. We do not forgive. We are legion. This is our right. This is our mission. This is our sworn duty. RLTW!

fuckin hasidim cop

Sorry, I disagree with all the conclusions at the end of the video. The video does not show any one shooting Olsen. It does show protesters throwing tear gas grenades back at police. Could Olsen have been hit by one of these? not likely, no tear gas around olsen until a cannister was tossed, not fired, and a flash/bang was tossed, not fired, byPolice. Real conclusions? Scott Olsen received a skull fracture. Fact. Cause unknown. but if you must guess, lack of any tear gas around or in the vicinity, except in far background, would lead to a conclusion of not being from a teargas round, maybe a military hating protester who thought he could get in a cheap shot and blame some one else. The police did not fire the teargas at those trying to help Olsen. The cannister of teargas and the flash/bang were clearly seen coming from the officers behind the one with the rubber bullet gun.(not a teargas gun). They were tossed.
Again, still not a real smart move on the Police. Bottom line. Once an assembly is deemed illegal, the police have the duty and the right to break up the assembly. If you have a problem with this, join the Police or vote and change your government officials. We have the right to LAWFULL assembly.

Police were also firing RUBBER BULLETS and BEANBAG ROUNDS, I know it's tempting to be an armchair crime analyst, but he received the headwound in the front of his face, not the back of the head.

Unless one of the protesters ran in front of him with a cannister, and then threw it at his face when no one was looking, then I am 100% certain that round was fired by the police. Which officer, I do not know, but shots were fired, and he went down.

there is also about a 2 second window from when Scott Olson is standing still, to when he is dropped, and you can clearly see the only thing in front of him is police, and all you can hear is them firing.

We can see clearly that Scott Olsen is just standing there—actually quite still. Apparently he is just to tempting and easy a target for someone in the rank of cops very close to him. Shot him in the face at point blank range. Truly sickening.

Speaking as a Navy Veteran, i’ve just completely lost any respect for the Oakland Police Department, and it damages my opinion of police in general. You’re looking great guys.

That ‘officer’ (the word in this application leaves a foul taste in my mouth) does not deserve his commission. Shooting Scott Olsen in the face like that is dispicable. That means I despise the officer who fired that round. There is no excuse for that. If I were a fellow officer, I would feel ashamed for my team.

...disturbing, although it could be expected from those deeply indoctrinated such as these cops ... left a comment on my facebbok page:

"Police (a.k.a. 'Public Security') forces' doctrine is to 'remove' visible leaders within protests - this is likely one such example as military personnel are put through leadership training and assessments continuously; thus, Scott Olsen was probably singled out as a target:"

...and re-posted (from Filming Cops - facebook.com/pages/Filming-Cops/133646306670473) your excellent documentation there! (facebook.com/pages/Kid-Kundalini-PI/345264509194)

Thank you for your efforts to illuminate the masses!

is he alive?

I can only comment on what was on the video. The captions had arrows pointing to sparks as maybe the round that hit Mr Olsen. As you armchair detectives will no doubt know, Bean Bag guns and Rubber bullets do not leave such sparks. Your film made the assumption that the evidence pointed to a gas grenade. Wrong angles. Look at the area immediately behind Mr Olsen, the Statue on the corner. Such statue is not on the film of the alleged hit. What you say about other things being fired, that is the real question.. stick with the fact that the police lobbed both a gas grenade and a flash/bang into those rushing to his aid. There you have the real story. Mr Olsen even after being injured was tortured by gas and a flash/Bang. Were the police afraid he would bleed on them? No excuses, no denials.

Truly sad as he was completely non-violent, peaceful and is so young. Really hope he makes a full recovery. We now have a US Autumn after the Arab Spring and we all saw how these protesters were crushed by the powers that be, lets hope this does not happen again and democracy can continue to air it's voice peacefully, something the US can be proud of, 'freedom of speech'.

One thing that is not clear in this video is the general mood of the day. There is lots of video of the day online, which suggests hours and hours of protest that is so peaceful that it's tedious.

There is no escalation of tension. There is a bunch of people standing around. An announcement is made on a bull horn. It is ignored. Then within the span of a few minutes, the number of police quadruples, tear gas is fired into the crowd, and protesters begin retreating. You see police firing rifles at them. You can't tell they are shooting rubber bullets. You see a lot of people in retreat lifting their shirts for the camera to reveal multiple rubber bullet blisters on their backs (with all that implies). People pick up rubber bullets, tear gas cans, and the lead bean bags and show them to the camera.

In short, it was a violent assault by police on a bunch of unarmed people standing around to make a political point. This illustrates why it is important for people to film all the peaceful bits. It lets everyone see that when there is violence, it is not a war between protesters and police. It is an assault. And if the police cannot draw the protesters into violent conflict, for fear of public condemnation, then they cannot suppress the idea that we need to do something about a financial system that no longer represents the interests of humanity.

For reference, check out the Oakland videos in this collection:
vimeo.com/album/1669535

This video was merely meant to show that the police shot Scott Olsen, if you want to see a video which shows the general mood of the day, here it is:
vimeo.com/31136427

Take it easy and thanks for the link!

Is the flash/explosion portion you stopped exploding from the right [in the video -- from the crowd] to the left [towards the cops]? The structure of the blast sure looks that way?

Just sayin'... the protestors were throwing fireworks "m-80's" and the like, this is merely evidence of a firework being thrown from the crowd towards the police. So, the question should be (using physics 101), "is this the explosion that felled Scott from the crowd?" Mercury news seems to think so:

The only nonlethal weapons San Francisco sheriff deputies brought to Oakland were two Anti-Riot Weapon Enfield rifles that fire 37 mm nonlethal rounds, similar to a roll of quarters. However, no deputies shot those weapons Tuesday night, Hirst said. Asked if someone from another department could have fired a deputy’s weapon, Hirst said, “No, we can’t use equipment we’re not trained in.”

Read more: religiopoliticaltalk.com/#ixzz1ceOR3RK9

I definitely think the officer in the video was wrong to toss a flash bang, or stun grenade, into the crowd of protesters who were clearly trying to aid someone who had been injured. I am in no way defending the police who are misusing their positions of authority in violent abuse against non violent protesters.

That being said, it is unfair to say that Scott Olsen was "shot" in the face by police. there is no evidence in this video to show exactly how he was injured, and for people who don't know any better they could mistake you saying he was "shot in the face" with him being shot by a bullet from a police weapon which isn't the case. I think in order for this to truly be an effective piece of independent journalism the facts need to be provided, let the law enforcement slant their side of things, we don't have to. Focus on the officer throwing the stun grenade into a crowd of people who were assisting. Focus on his body language, how he steps back behind the police line to throw the device so as not to be noticed. And the manner in which he throws it, so as not to make it obvious. Thank you for sharing though.